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Crime & Safety

West Appears Before New Judge, Then Another New Judge in Coroner's Office TV-Filching Case

Kane County Coroner West makes first court appearance since Judge Jordan Gallagher's death.

Coroner Chuck West's official misconduct case has already had a number of rare legal occurrences, and Thursday marked more.

The recent death of Associate Judge Jordan Gallagher, who had overseen the West case, put Thursday's hearing before Judge Edward Schreiber for the first time.

West is charged with official misconduct tied to the mishandling of a dead Carpentersville man's TV by two deputy coroners: West's son, Eric, and his girlfriend, Lisa Gilbert. He has pleaded not guilty and continues to push to have the charges thrown out. Gallagher ruled once to uphold the case, but West has a pending motion to have the charges against him deemed unconstitutional.

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Before any of that could proceed, West's attorney, Gary Johnson, asked for and received a substitution of judge. That moved West, the attorneys and media members down the hall to Circuit Judge Timothy Sheldon's courtroom.

There, Sheldon immediately said he could not take the case because he had campaigned with West during the 1990s. He also was unsure which judge would be able to take it.

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"We all know Chuck," Sheldon said of the longtime coroner. "I'm not sure where to send it."

Sheldon decided to move the case to the courtroom run by Judge Bruce Lester, who accepted the case with the understanding Sheldon would handle his busy DUI call if the West's case goes to trial.

Johnson and special prosecutor Charles Colburn met with Lester in his private to bring him up to speed on the more than one-year-old case. Since West's indictment, he has sought to have the county pay for his defense attorney, which required another attorney to be brought in by Kane officials to argue against the request which was ultimately denied.

Lester determined that West's motion that argues the indictments use of "value" is unconstitutionally vague and that the "actual value of the personal property in this indictment is not set forth" will require the Illinois Attorney General's Office to be notified and present for a hearing.

Johnson later said it will be up to the attorney general's office as to their role in the hearing, which has not yet been scheduled.  A status hearing is set for July 21.

Adding to the unusual circumstances following the criminal case is the lawsuit filed by Chief Deputy Coroner Loren Carrera which accuses the coroner, Eric West and Gilbert of, among other things, retaliation, after Carrera tipped off authorities to problems within the Coroner's Office.

Kane County State's Attorney Joe McMahon, citing a conflict of interest in representing three county employees in the lawsuit brought by another county employee, was granted a request for a special state's attorney be appointed to handle that case.

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